“Total (wildlife) forage percent cover was significantly greater in the control (i.e. unsprayed) area.” G.J. Harper, L.J. Herring, and W.J. Hays-Byl, Conifer and Vegetation Response in the BWBSmw1 12 Years after mechanical and Herbicide Site Preparation, Ministry of Forests, 1997, page 16.

“Forest vegetation management, particularly herbicides, can reduce available wildife forage since many of the “weed” species which foresters wish to control are also important browse species.”- Forest Research Council of British Columbia, Environmental Concerns in Forest Vegetation Management: Research and Development Needs, 1986, page 32.

Mammals like this groundhog prefer mixed aspen forests

“With the herbicides, they do kill the invertebrates and some of the fungus that the voles and mice eat, which of course, then flows through the food chain, and you lose the ecosystem with the wildlife.”- Judy Banas, Resident Hunters’ Association of British Columbia Region 5 president, 100 Mile House Free Press, Herbicide Use Concerns Redirected at Government, May 18, 2011.

Toxicity:

“It is relatively common knowledge that Roundup [i.e. Vision] should not be applied to large ponds and lakes, but it is less commonly appreciated that most amphibians are not produced in large ponds and lakes due to predation by fish. Instead, small temporary wetlands that may appear to be unimportant and only have 6″ (15 cm) of water can, in fact, produce thousands of tadpoles including many species that breed only in temporary wetlands. These small, temporary pools are either not avoided or not avoidable by aerial pesticide applications.” Dr. Rick Relyea, Director of the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, University of Pittsburgh, A Response to Monsanto

Western Toads like this one are highly sensitive to glyphosate herbicides and their additive, POEA (polyoxylated tallowamine)

“Recent studies have shown that amphibians are one of the most sensitive vertebrate groups to the toxicological effects of (glyphosate) herbicide. The LC50 (lethal concentration) value for many amphibians is between 10 and 1 mg a.e./L, and for some amphibians the LC50 is between 1 and 0.1 mg a.e./L (acid equivalent, a.e., is a measure of the amount of the active glyphosate ingredient in herbicide formulations). Therefore, glyphosate herbicides are classified as moderately to highly toxic to amphibians. In addition, the expected environmental concentration (EEC) of glyphosate herbicides of 1.43 mg a.e./L is at or above the estimated LC50 value for some amphibians, particularly when water pH is above 7. Amphibians may also suffer from a variety of sublethal effects (e.g., impaired growth and development, behaviour, physiological parameters, and genomic characteristics) and indirect impacts (e.g., mediated through interaction with competitive and predatory stress, and changes to the food resources, temperature, pH, and UV light) arising from the use of glyphosate herbicides.”- Purnima Govindarajulu,Literature Review of Impacts of Glyphosate Herbicide on Amphibians: What Risks can the Silvicultural Use of this Herbicide Pose for Amphibians in B.C.? Ministry of Environment, 2008, page 1.

“Now in 2010, many researchers would argue that the impact is not only to tadpoles. Indeed, the latest work coming out of Colombia (where a very similar formulation of Roundup is being used to kill coca plants), researchers have found that the typical applications rates used to kill plants have the ability to kill up to 30% of some adult amphibians on land(Bernal et al. 2009). This is consistent with the results of our own study of adult sensitivity in 2005.”- Dr. Rick Relyea, Director of the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, University of Pittsburgh, personal email conversation, 2011.

“In the French study, researchers tested four different Roundup formulations, all containing POEA and glyphosate at concentrations below the recommended lawn and agricultural dose. They also tested POEA and glyphosate separately to determine which caused more damage to embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. Glyphosate, POEA and all four Roundup formulations damaged all three cell types. Umbilical cord cells were especially sensitive toPOEA. Glyphosate became more harmful when combined with POEA, and POEA alone was more deadly to cells than glyphosate. The research appears in the January issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.”- Summary of academic article: Glyphosate Forumulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells,in “Chemical Research in Toxicology,” 2009, 22 (1), pp 97–105 from “Weed killer kills human cells; Study intensifies debate over ‘inert’ ingredients.”